Hydrogen production is an object of several industrial and/or chemical methods. Currently, most hydrogen is produced using natural gas via steam-methane reforming (SMR). The latter requires high temperatures and pressures, and is dependent on methane (natural gas or other fossil fuel derived starting materials coming from the petroleum industry). SMR produces large amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) and, ultimately, carbon dioxide (CO2).
Interest exists in using cellular hydrogenases which exhibit turnover rates several orders of magnitude higher than the most advanced inorganic catalysts to efficiently manufacture hydrogen.
However, production efforts using just hydrogenase have been challenging in view of—overall hydrogen yields, stability of the isolated enzyme in the presence of oxygen and/or availability/expense of providing co-factors.
Similar considerations apply to additional processes wherein a product is produced by a nicotinamide assisted reduction catalyzed by a membrane protein enzyme which can be challenging in view of their stability and of the yield of the related product.